In 2007 I returned to collecting trading cards after stopping at the age of 13 in 1994. When I restarted, my Dad gave me his collection, which included a few hundred dusty Topps baseball cards from the late 60's and early 70's from when HE was a kid. Now, I've decided to complete the 1969 set with a good start of about a third of the set. -- Pack Addict 3/13/2009

Pack Addict has turned this blog over to me, so I will be continuing the tradition. -- Jim from Downingtown 2012

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

#419 Rod Carew Sporting News All -Star

Here's a young Sir Rodney on his Sporting News All-Star card #419. Only in his third season, he was on his way to win his first of 7 AL batting titles with an average of .332 that year! This was his 3rd All-Star selection in his, count em', 18 consecutive All-Star selections! He also stole home 9 times that year. Wow.

According to Beckett.com, there were 20 All-Star cards, all with puzzle pieces on the back. The first ten, including this one, featured a Carl Yaztremski puzzle. The other ten featured Pete Rose.

This card, along with another dozen, were sent over from Dean at Dean's Cards just because of his love for the 1969 Topps Baseball set! After Dean contacted me, I checked out his store and was really impressed by the sheer volume of singles listed, and the quality of the layout. They've pretty much got the last 100 years of sports trading cards covered, along with a large amount of non-sports cards, mostly from the 1930's through the 1960's. In most cases, you'll have a choice of which grade you want. This card, for instance, shows 5 EX/MT, 15 EX and 4 VG cards in stock! Check 'em out.

Here's the other cards sent over from Dean that will be shown on this blog in the near future:

Set description I posted in Zistle

With the addition of 4 expansion teams in 1969, the Topps set ballooned to 664 cards. Horizontal backs returned, after a 2-year absence, making room for more stats on the back (such as league, and games played). Topps continued with the color-coding of teams used in the 1966 and 1968 sets, while adding pink and brown to the mix for the expansion teams. Most of the players for the Expos, Royals, Padres, and Pilots are seen in airbrushed or capless photos, but we start to see the new uniforms in the later series.

Among the cards are 25 manager cards (2 for the Senators), 12 league leader cards, 8 World Series cards, 20 all-star cards, 4 multi-player cards, and a whopping 52 rookie stars cards. For the first time in a decade, there were no team cards. (Topps would reinstate all team cards in the 1970 set.)

1969 rookies with significant playing time who were omitted from the set include Wayne Garrett, Rod Gaspar, Gail Hopkins, Ken Tatum, and Al Raffo.

Topps began issuing their annual "traded" sets in 1981. Prior to that, there was a handful of "traded" cards in the 1972 and 1974 sets. Even earlier, 2 unofficial "traded" cards appeared in the 1969 set. The Clay Dalrymple card was issued with 2 different photos – one as a Phillie, and another capless photo as an Oriole. The Donn Clendenon card also had 2 variations. Although the same airbrushed photo was used on both cards, one shows him as a Montreal Expo, while the other shows him as a “Houston”.

Significant errors in the 1969 set: - The Aurelio Rodriguez card has a photo of the Angels’ batboy.

Other quirks in the 1969 set: - As in the 1968 set, all Astros players are shown with a team name of “Houston”. - Jim Hicks appears on the Cardinals Rookie Stars card, after having his own card in the 1967 set as a member of the White Sox. - Hawk Taylor, who had cards in the 1966 and 1968 sets, appears in the 1969 set as Bob Taylor. - Orlando Martinez, who had cards in the 1967 and 1968 sets, appears as Marty Martinez from 1969-72.